Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkins, pantiliners, and incontinence pads are devices that are typically worn in the crotch region of an undergarment. These devices are designed to absorb and retain liquid and other discharges from the human body and to prevent body and clothing soiling. Typically, most of the disposable absorbent articles of the types mentioned above are made of materials that will not stretch. That is, the materials (and the article itself) will not stretch under the forces that the absorbent article is normally subjected to when worn.
The Kimberly-Clark Corporation received a patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,891,258, on a stretchable absorbent composite which issued to Fahrenkrug on Jan. 2, 1990. This patent is directed to a composite structure that is comprised of at least four layers: a liquid-pervious layer, a liquid-impervious layer, an absorbent layer, and a stretchable layer. The stretchable layer can comprise an impervious elastomeric film that is apertured and placed between the liquid-pervious layer and the absorbent layer. The stretchable layer is stretch-bonded to the other layers and, upon relaxing the stretched layer, a plurality of rugosities are formed in the liquid-pervious layer, liquid-impervious layer, and absorbent layer. The Fahrenkrug patent does not state what type of article for which the stretchable absorbent composite described therein might be useful. (The Applicants, therefore, do not concede that the stretchable absorbent composite is related to the same types of articles described herein.) The absorbent composite disclosed in the Fahrenkrug patent also suffers from a number of drawbacks. The Fahrenkrug patent requires the use of a separate stretchable layer which makes the stretchable absorbent composite stretchable, but appears to serve no purpose associated with the absorbency or liquid retention of the composite, adding to the cost of the same. In addition, because the stretchable layer is comprised of liquid impervious material, and is placed between the liquid-pervious layer and the absorbent layer, it presents an awkward structure which could interfere with the transmission of liquids to the absorbent layer.
A number of efforts by the Procter & Gamble Company, assignee of the present invention, have been directed to providing absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, panty liners, and incontinence pads, with an overall extensibility. Sanitary napkins and other absorbent articles comprised of most or all extensible components, which are provided with a degree of overall extensibility (which is preferably on the order of about 10% to 40%) are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/915,133 entitled "Stretchable Absorbent Articles" and Ser. No. 07/915,284 entitled "Extensible Absorbent Articles", both filed in the name of Osborn, et al. on Jul. 23, 1992 (PCT Publication Nos. WO 93/01785 and WO 93/01786, both published Feb. 4, 1993) (of which the present application is a continuation-in-part).
The absorbent articles described in the patent applications filed by Applicant's assignee work quite well. There are, however, some aspects of the absorbent articles that are described in these patent applications that can be improved. For example, the materials and manufacturing operations associated with making such absorbent articles extensible can result in such absorbent articles being substantially more expensive to produce than disposable absorbent articles currently on the market. It is, therefore, desirable to provide extensible absorbent structures, for absorbent articles that perform at least as well as the absorbent articles described in the above references, but which have fewer layers, and simpler constructions, and are, as a result, less expensive to manufacture. Therefore, the search for improved, as well as alternative, extensible absorbent articles to those described in the above patent applications has continued.
Thus, a need exists for an extensible absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is provided with an overall extensibility. In particular, a need exists for such absorbent articles that have fewer layers and simpler constructions, and are less expensive to manufacture than the absorbent articles described in the above references.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that is provided with an overall extensibility which is preferably on the order of about 10% to 40%.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an alternative type of absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that has fewer layers and a simpler construction that the extensible absorbent articles described in the above references.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a superabsorbent material-containing absorbent article, such as a sanitary napkin, that provides the superabsorbent material particles therein with improved liquid holding capacity.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.